OLMSTED TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Donna and Gary Reitler of Olmsted Township have been living with nearly three decades of heartbreak, hope and the search for closure in the March 29, 1993 disappearance of their 19-year-old daughter Tricia Reitler.
Their daughter was reported missing from the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University after leaving the now-closed Marsh Supermarket in Marion Indiana.
The Reitler's told News 5 they don't believe their daughter is alive, as her disappearance heads into its 30th year, but they are still praying information will be found to bring her back home and even lead to an arrest in the case.
“People out there, somebody knows something and somebody needs to come forward, they need to help us," Gary Reitler said. "It may not be a big clue, it may be something small, but as they put the small clues together maybe we can solve this.”
Gary Reitler told News 5 Tricia was writing a term paper when she decided to take a break to pick up a Family Circle magazine and root beer. Reiter said witnesses saw her leaving the supermarket, but after that, she was never seen again.
“The magazine and receipt were found along the side of the road, and a couple of days, almost two days later her clothes were found across the road from the Marsh Supermarket," Reitler said. “The fact that we don’t have much evidence, her clothes have been tested numerous times, but with no results.”
In 1998, News 5 worked with the Marion Police Departmentand Crimestoppers to produce a series of billboards near the Indiana Wesleyan campus, but that too failed to produce results.
Donna Reitler told News 5 she still has optimism the case can be solved, but said some days recovery from the loss of her daughter can to be difficult.
"No answers, it doesn’t really seem that we’re any closer to answers, Tricia’s still gone, our hearts are still broken," Donna Reitler said “You can’t help but think what life would be like if she was here, what a difference she would have made, the world was robbed, it was robbed."
Gary Reitler said his daughter would always "light up a room" and was filled with a positive spirit, a life with so much potential.
“Actually she was studying to become a psychologist, her goal was wanting to put families back together again," Gary Reitler said. “A dad always wants to step in and fix the situation, help the situation, and I can’t explain the helplessness that I feel that I can’t do this, that I can’t bring her back.”
Donna Reitler told News 5 investigators still consider her daughter's disappearance to be an open case, and she's urging anyone with information to please call the Marion Indiana Police Department with information.
Donna Reitler reminded parents to appreciate every moment they have with their sons or daughters.
“Yes, you’ve got to make the opportunities when you can, you never know what tomorrow holds, you never know what tomorrow holds," Donna Reitler said. "I never thought I’d been here 30 years later."
Click here to view the News 5 Cleveland Missing Persons page.
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